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We actually slept through the night, waking up at about 5AM. We started our morning on the patio with a coffee and a chocolate croissant-Yum!
We drove down the mountain and back towards Lake Geneva. We arrived in a small town called Vevey. It sits on the lake surrounded by mountains and has those trees we love and see everywhere lining a boardwalk. We walked around the old cobblestone streets, looking at the shops and taking pictures on the water.
Next stop was Gruyere where we found La Maison Cheese Factory. We were excited to take the tour through cheese making. They had a big restaurant to walk through and then the tour counter in the back. We paid for two tours (7 CHF each), they gave us a hand held audio wand and a pre-packaged tasting of their cheese from not aged to aged. Unfortunately we were disappointed with this tour! It had the components and ideology to be a good tour but the execution was just not there…it felt kind of cheap.
After walking up some steps there was a large wall with fun facts about cheese making and each fact was numbered so one would enter it into the audio wand to listen to the information. They also had long silver pipes sticking out from the floor that you pull on and sniff. There were various scents to smell that may be in the fields that could impact the cheese taste. After walking along one side of the wall, you walked along the other side of the wall doing the same thing. The narration was all done via a cow named Cherry. Yes, I know…that is pretty “cheesy”.
Then you walked into a room where the windows were all glass and you could look down into where the cheese was being made. Of course there aren’t always people making cheese at the time you enter but you could see all the machinery and there were videos showing the process. The tour was done and you could peer into a big room where each huge wheel of Gruyere cheese was aging. What would I have done differently? I would not have Cherry the cow telling me about cheese making for starters. I would have the tour actually walk through the dairy factory area (of course closed off so people couldn’t interfere with the process) and I would have a tasting room be the end of the tour where someone would have us try various types without telling us the aged months so we could guess for ourselves the difference in taste.
After the cheese tour, we felt it was only right to venture into the next town where there was a famous chocolatier. This company was called, Cailler ( http://www.cailler.ch/en/Home.aspx ) chocolate which is a Swiss chocolatier making chocolate since 1819! We purchased two tour tickets and ventured in hoping for a better experience than the last tour. A women asked us if we were ready and told us when the walls or doors open, go into the next room. She then put us into what seemed like a huge elevator and the doors shut with only Giff and I inside. A voice started talking to us about the history of cocoa. The elevator went down and the doors opened to another room filled with fake plants, props and lights. We continued to listen to the ancient story of cocoa and walking from room to room as different doors and walls unveiled the next space.
After the storytelling portion of the tour, we found ourselves in the factory portion. There were bags and bags of cocoa beans from different parts of the world with information telling us the difference in the taste and characteristics of the beans. There were also various huge bags of nuts they used in their chocolate as well as a bin of cocoa butter you could touch. There were so many fun facts in this room telling you about the plant and the crops and how the chocolate is made etc. We learned that Cailler is one of the only large manufacturers who use fresh milk from cows (delivered daily) for their chocolate’s creamy texture. Most others use powdered milk. They also had a live feed showing a couple safes. In those safes were the secret recipes of the chocolate that less than one handful of people know the code. As we continued walking we saw the production line. It was a machine that started with forming the chocolate into its shape, then enrobing it in additional chocolate, cooling it and wrapping it…then at the other end was a basket of these chocolates to eat!
The next room was another window into the chocolate factory…with workers busy at work. Before the tasting room, was a hall with papers on the wall. The question stated, “When is it chocolate time for you?” They supplied papers and pens so we wrote, “With a big glass of vino” and stuck our paper on the wall with the others. And finally we were approaching the tasting room where we could smell rich chocolate and see the piles of individual chocolates on plates waiting to melt in our mouth. Right before you walk into that room is a huge picture of a human head and directions on exactly how to properly taste chocolate.
Then was the tasting. The counter was a square shape and it had plates loaded with chocolate pieces. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, truffles, bars you name it. We gorged ourselves of course…it was our duty to taste so many right? And then left the tasting room only to find a huge room of packaged chocolates for sale. Walls filled with chocolate bars…we bought many and if we see you when we are back in CA, OH and NY at the end of April…we will give you a taste as well.
With our bellies full of chocolate we ended our day in a lakeside town called Montreaux. We walked through the small city which also had a boardwalk on the lake and cobblestone streets in the old town. We sat down at a cafe outside on the sidewalk, ordered a beer and talked with a group of people from Germany before heading back to our place for a goodnight sleep.
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
View all posts by Brandey Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
Sorry, left the number off the email!
Good for you both! This is your former Aunt Rose and I hope you have the best of times while you are traveling. Your mom forwarded the website and it is impressive. Take care and have fun.
It does sound like you are finding the best Europe has to offer. Your blog and pictures are incredible. I have learned that Guryere cheese is called that because it probably comes from Gruyere!!! I always wondered where the name originated.
That’s awsome! Lol This time you actually got to see the chocolate being made. Sounds like a much better tour than the one we went on in Hawaii , but than again it’s switzerland!!! 🙂
WOW! I feel like I just went on this tour! What a great description! You are a good storyteller. sounds like your trip is really meeting your expectations.
What is this about coming to the states in April? Where are you coming and when? Aunt Cindi is arriving in Col on April 25 to stay for 21 days. Cannot wait to see her!
How have you been feeling? I hope you both are having a great time and getting some rest too. I love this travel blog.
Love you both